Last week, in what a Microsoft spokesperson described as ‘a little like science fiction’, the tech giant unveiled a breakthrough in quantum computing: the Majorana 1 quantum chip.

The founational architecture the chip is built on, and the chip itself, are the results of the longest running research program at Microsoft. This remarkable development has been in work for more than 17 years.

Quantum computing has long been hailed the key to solving problems so complex they’re currently rendered unsolvable – even using the most powerful computing technology available today. Medicine, material science and our understanding of the natural world are some of the areas and industries this technological leap promises to revolutionise.

The science behind Microsoft’s Majorana 1 quantum chip is mind-blowing. Where regular computer chips use electrons, Microsoft is using entirely new particles: ‘Majoranas’. And in a remarkable series of firsts, Microsoft’s Majorana 1 is the first quantum processor built using the world’s first topoconductor, which is a new type of semi-conductor that operates as a superconductor.

The new topological core architecture has allowed Microsoft to scale to millions of reliable, small and controllable qubits on a tiny chip. The quantum chip is a triple threat, presented at the right size, the right speed and and the right controllability, meaning this Microsoft technology can scale like no other.

What all this means is we’re closer to having an incredibly powerful tool that will tackle challenges in a way that’s currently impossible. Meaningful, industrial-scale problems will be solved in years, rather than decades.

As the technology is refined and employed, we can imagine the development of new chemicals, new medicines, new enzymes – without the requirement of laboratory experiments or decades or research and development. Augmented with artificial intelligence, this form of quantum computing will drive discovery and accelerate advancement of the human race.

Microsoft has asserted that the next major milestone will require quantum architecture that’s capable of trillions of fast and reliable operations, predicting a development timeline of years – not decades.